Always Here
by Calliecatt93
Summary: 2012-verse. Takes place in-between 'TCRI' and 'Cockroach Terminator'. Donnie has been over-working himself. Leo decides to do something about it.


**A/N:** So… I got bored and decided to write a little TMNT one-shot. I guess I was kind of in the mood for bro fluff, and this idea ended up coming to me. It's not all that good, but I tried my best. I hope you guys enjoy!

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Another long day had ended, which was a relief for Leonardo. The past few days had been rather rough for him and his family, as many days had been since they first went to the surface all those months ago. So much had happened since them, far more than he had ever expected. When he had happily ran through the streets talking about 'an adventure was waiting around every corner', he hadn't exactly been expecting becoming involved against alien robots, weed monsters, and a clan of ninjas wanting to kill him and his family.

A yawn escaped Leo, pausing his thoughts. There he was pondering over how things had changed again, just as he had been doing for a long while now. He shook his head, shaking away those thoughts that he didn't want to think of right now. It was late, and he wanted to get some sleep. He could ponder on things in the morning.

The blue-banded turtle shut the TV off as credits for _Space Heroes _ended. He stood and stretched a bit, getting feeling back into his limbs after keeping them still for the past two hours. It was rather late now, around midnight. He should have gone to bed hours ago, but he hadn't watched his favorite show in a while, and getting a chance to watch it without Raph making some sarcastic remark every three minutes had been an opportunity he didn't want to pass up. Besides, it had been a two hour marathon. He couldn't miss that!

Placing the remote on the arm of the nearby chair, Leo began to head for the corridor that led to his and his brother's rooms. Before he even finished getting off the steps, the sound of glass crashing on the surface of a hard floor made him pause. He turned to his left, and his blue eyes were met with the door to Donnie's lab. There was a light coming out from the crack.

_Is he still up? Ugh, not again…_

Looks like his genius little brother was up working late… again. This wouldn't be the first time either; he'd been doing this for quite a while now. Sure, Donnie could be a night owl, always wanting to stay up to work on whatever new invention was on his mind. It was how the purple-banded turtle worked, once he got an idea, he couldn't let it go until he had completed it.

But the past few days, Donnie had seemed to be staying up later and later. It had begun ever since they had first fought the Kraang, but as the months went on, he seemed to have started staying up later and later. During such times, either Leo or Raph would go in there around bedtime in order to convince, or in Raph's case force the second-youngest turtle to leave the lab and let his mind rest.

It appeared that tonight was one of those nights.

With a small sigh, Leo headed in the direction towards Donnie's lab, He knew that he wouldn't be able to sleep if he wasn't assured that his brothers were doing the same, and he certainly wasn't going to let any of them drive themselves to the point of exhaustion. He was the older brother after all; he was the leader. It was his job to look after his younger brothers, and he would make sure to do just that.

Climbing the small staircase, Leo knocked on the heavy door. When nothing happened after a few seconds of waiting, he knocked again, only louder. Still nothing. The turtle leader let out another sigh; either Donnie was ignoring him or didn't hear him at all due to being too focused on his work. Leo was betting on the latter, but that didn't stop his eyes from narrowing in slight annoyance. Looked like he was doing this the hard way.

He pushed the door open, and he instantly spotted his egg-headed brother at the lab table. His shell was turned to Leo, but he seemed to be fiddling with something. A laptop was sitting on the table along with a jar containing a small cockroach. There was a pile of broken glass on the table as well, which Leo assumed were the remains of whatever he had heard crash earlier.

The blue-banded turtle took a few steps forward until he was standing directly behind his little brother. Donnie continued working on whatever he was currently fiddling with; must be too focused on that, as Leo had suspected. He reached out hand, poking his brother in the shoulder.

"Hey, Donnie-"

The genius turtle let out a small gasp and jumped a little before swiftly turning around. His brown eyes were wide, and Leo could now see some redness in them. There was a startled look on Donnie's face, but it turned into a mixed look of annoyance and anger once he saw who it was behind him.

"Dang it Leo, don't do that!" he said in a slightly startled tone, "You nearly scared me straight out of my shell!" Leo was slightly taken back from his brother's reaction, but it wasn't unexpected either.

"Eh, sorry," said Leo, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, "I was just heading for bed and I heard something crash. "Everything alright Donnie?"

Donnie seemed to calm a bit, his features relaxing slightly. He looked at the broken glass on the table for a brief moment before turning back; averting his tired eyes from his leader's questioning ones.

"Yeah, it's fine. I had just dropped a jar, but I got it up. It's nothing to worry about." Donnie turned back to his work, possibly expecting Leo to leave now that his question was answered. But Leo didn't move, he crossed his arms and remained in his spot right behind his brother. What felt like a good few minutes passed before Donnie let out a sigh and he turned his head slightly to glance at his older brother.

"Look, I know what you about to say Leo, and don't worry, I'm gonna go to bed in just a bit." He turned back to his work again. "I just need to finish this one thing…"

The younger turtle had trailed off, going back to his current piece of work. Now a little curious about what was keeping his brother from going to bed, Leo walked beside him and glanced down. Whatever the device was, it was small; about the size of a bug. The top of it was opened, and Donnie seemed to be working on the circuitry inside the device. There were some small straps attacked to it, which made Leo a little more curious on what his brother had come up with this time.

Normally, he would have probably asked Donnie what he was working on, but his gaze switched towards his brother's face. His eyes were red and puffy, and despite the purple mask tied to Donnie's face, Leo was pretty sure that he could see dark bags under the brown irises as well. The genius turtle's body looked slightly slumped over, and he was working at a rather slow pace; slower than what Leo was used to seeing.

It was clear to Leonardo that the younger turtle was tired and worn out form a long day of working. It was also clear to him about what he had to do.

"Alright Donnie, that's enough for one night," he said in his leader-voice as he gently grasped his brother's wrists, causing him to pause and look at Leo, "it's past midnight and you've been in here all day. You need to go to bed."

"I just one more minute-"

"No Donnie, you'll have all the time for this tomorrow. Right now you need to get some sleep; you'll be able to focus better once you're not so exhausted."

"But…" Donnie glanced back at his device, and he shook his head before ripping his wrists out of Leo's hold, "I can't, not yet Leo. I just want to finish this… I want to do something right for once…"

This caused Leo to give his brother a puzzled look. He hadn't been expecting to hear that. Not at all.

"What? What are you talking about Donnie?" he asked in confusion, "You haven't done anything wrong."

"Oh, I haven't?" said Donnie as he turned to face Leo, a hint of bitterness in his voice, "What about sending the Shellraiser through the wall, which caused the Kraang to get the Power Cell, which caused us to bust into TCRI to get it, which caused us to both lose Leatherhead and fail to stop the portal!"

As he spoke, Donnie's voice pitched up before he closed his eyes and turned away from his leader. He stared down at his work, placing his hands on the table as he cracked his eyes open. Even then, Leo could see a glimmer of shame within the brown orbs.

"It's all my fault Leo… I-I need to make this right. I need to find out what the Kraang are planning to do, I need to know why they want… I just need to fix all of this…"

Leo stared at his brother with slightly wide eyes. So this was the cause of the all-nighters, Donnie felt guilty. He felt as if everything that had happened in the past few days, the loss of the Power Cell and of Leatherhead, were all his fault.

That kind of self-guilt was not foreign to Leo, as a leader he had felt it several times. It was why he would always look back over all that had happened, all of the battles that he had led his family to winning and losing. Even when they won, Leo would often wonder if there could have been a better solution, and he only thought of it more whenever he led his team to failure.

But doing all of that was what a leader did; what Leo did. Not Donnie, not his bright, big-hearted brother. None of his family should have to feel that way. But Donnie was, and he needed assurance that nothing was his fault.

If that's what needed to be done, than it was what Leonardo would do.

"Donnie," he placed his hand gently on his brother's shoulder, "look at me."

Donnie did nothing at first, but after a short moment, he slowly and reluctantly turned towards his leader. Weary brown eyes met gentle but stern blue ones. Leo's grip on Donnie's shoulder tightened slightly, but it was still gentle and firm.

"Listen to me Donatello," Leo began, "nothing, and I mean _nothing _is your fault."

"But I-" Donnie was silenced by the sternness in his brother's gaze. Once he was sure that he wasn't going to be interrupted, Leo began again.

"You may have caused the Kraang to find the Power Cell, but if you hadn't crashed the Shellraiser, than who would have cured Raph? You're the reason that he's alive now Donnie. You did everything you could to try and get the Power Cell back; it just didn't work out, but not because of you."

"And as for what happened in TCRI, none of us could have seen that coming. If you had, you'd have come up with a way to stop that portal and to get it to blow up. Plus we never would have found the building if you hadn't realized what that symbol was, and you were able to get access to those files even when they were damaged."

"Yeah… But I…" the purple-banded turtle was still doubting, and Leo didn't like it one bit. Wanting to get rid of his brother's guilt, Leo pulled Donnie forward. The younger one gave out a small gasp, but he put up no struggle as he was pulled into his older brother's arms, his hands instinctively landing on Leo's shoulders. As he held his brother close, a small, gentle smile crossed Leo's lips as he began to speak again.

"You've done so much for the team Donnie; we never would have gotten this far without you." his grip on Donnie tightened as he spoke, "We found the Kraang's base because of you and now we know what they're plans are. If it weren't for you and you're quick-thinking, we could have lost Raph and an innocent civilian could have been killed. Do you regret that Donnie?"

"Well… No, but I still-"

"No Donnie, you did absolutely nothing wrong," he pulled Donnie a little closer and placed one hand on the back of his head, "I know what it's like to feel like you did everything wrong. I know what it's like to blame yourself for things that have happened, I've feel that way after every mission."

He heard Donnie let out a tiny gasp, apparently he hadn't been expecting to hear that come out of his older brother; his leader. But Leo ignored it in favor of continuing what he needed to say.

"I've blamed myself for a lot of things, like what happened when we fought Shredder, or when April got abducted by Dogpound. But no one blamed me for it, even when I was." He pulled back slightly to look at his brother, who looked both exhausted and surprised.

"Tell me Donnie, did you blame me for anything that I've done?"

"What? No, of course not!" was the immediate reply of the genius turtle, "I've never blamed you for anything Leo. All of that just happened, we never knew that it would-!" He cut off then as realization overcame his face. Leo's smile grew at this as he again held his brother close.

"That's right, none of you blame me. Just like how none of us blame you. And we know that next time, you'll do better and you won't make the same mistakes again. Do you understand now Donnie?"

Everything went silent in the lab as Donnie seemed to ponder his brother's words. Finally, a small, somewhat relieved smile appeared on his face as his grip on Leo tightened.

"Okay, yeah I see what you're getting at," he spoke in a low voice, exhaustion clear in it, "doesn't mean that I don't feel bad still."

"I know, but that'll fade soon Donnie," said Leo in a gentle tone, "and like I said, next time you'll do even better. I know you will"

Things became quiet again as the two turtles just stood there holding each other. The silence broke when a yawn escaped Donnie as his head fell slightly onto Leo's shoulder. The blue-banded turtle let out a small chuckle.

"And that's the sign that it's time for you to go to bed," he said as he adjusted himself so that he had an arm wrapped around his brother's shell and had one of his arms draped around the back of his neck. He was careful to not disturb his brother as he led him to the lab door.

Other than giving his unfinished invention a tired glance, Donnie put up no struggle as his older brother led him out of the lab and into the long corridor that led to the bedrooms. Leo entered Donnie's room and upon reaching the bed, moved the purple blanket back before helping Donnie lay down.

As he pulled the blanket over his brother, Leo saw that Donnie's eyes were closed and he appeared to have fallen asleep. Leo watched for a moment before smiling as he carefully took off the purple mask and laid it on the small table beside the bed. With his brother now resting peacefully, Leo began to head for the door to head for his own room.

"Hey, Leo?" the oldest turtle paused, having barely moved away from the bed as turned back towards his brother. His eyes were cracked open slightly and he had turned to face his leader. Leo stared back for a moment before another small smile formed.

"Yeah, Donnie?" he asked in a gentle tone. Donnie gave him a small smile of his own, and even with his eyes cracked, a glimmer of gratitude shined within them.

"Thanks… for everything." This made the leader's smile grown more as he gave his younger brother a small pat on the head.

"You know I'm always here for you Donnie, I'll always be here." He said, meaning every word of it. "Now let that big brain of yours get some rest, you're gonna need it if you want to finish whatever it is your making tomorrow."

Donnie gave his brother a small nod before closing his eyes once more. His breathing slowed, and he was soon asleep. Relief filled Leo as he pulled the blanket over his brother a bit more and gave him another head rub.

"Good-night Donnie." He said softly as he again headed for the door. He gave his sleeping brother one last glance before shutting the door. He let out a small sigh of relief as he felt his earlier pondering start to creep back on him. But he pushed it back; he didn't need to think back through all of that right now.

He had been able to help his brother; he didn't need to think about anything else.

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**A/N: **I do worry that this may have been a little OOC, but I'm still getting used to writing the Turtles. Still, I hope that you guys enjoyed this little one-shot of mine! Constructive criticism is welcomed, and hopefully I may write some more TMNT stuff. Thanks for reading guys, remember to R&R! Thanks!


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